March 2nd Newsletter

Congratulations to the Eaton family on their latest arrival! I saw her yesterday…so precious!

Writing
Due to the sicknesses and a snow day, we are just polishing up our autobiographical publications, and they should be coming home soon. Otherwise, we have been writing songs and poems that we have learned by heart over the past weeks and months. We speak/sing the words and then I will dictate them line by line. We write the words purely out of sound (encoding). The students do not concern themselves with spelling and allow themselves a looser expectation as far as handwriting is concerned. The students will pass their writings around the group and they will examine whether or not the most important sounds of each word have letter representation. Next, they copy the song/poem from the board next to the encoded version on their paper; taking care to copy the correct spelling and focusing on their best handwriting. Finally, the students examine the differences between the copied version and the encoded version—circling misspellings and other differences.

Reading
F&P, Razz Kids program, and self-selected, silent reading.

Math
We are finishing up a huge focus on place value. The students have embraced the imagery, activity, and applied mathematical processes. Our math questions can now stand up (vertical/columnar) and that helps to keep our place values in line. This helps to process a big number through a series of simpler math questions. The students have also established an initial foundation for regrouping whether carrying or borrowing. They have been working so hard!
In carrying, the student must recognize when our characters—Wendy, Timmy, or Harry—have more than unit value they work wit exclusively. If Wendy somehow accumulates more than 9, then we say this:
“Wendy, now you have too much,
But don’t get sad and tarry.
For your task is not so tough;
Just bag up ten and carry…to Timmy
With the process of borrowing, we examine whether the subtrahend is larger than the minuend, or whether the customer needs more than our characters possess.
“Wendy, you do not have enough,
But there is no need for sorry.
For your task is not so tough;
Just go to Timmy and borrow”

Science
We have been taking a look at our 5 Senses and how far out onto the world they can reach. We have collectively come to the conclusion that taste does not reach far out into the world because we can only taste something if it touches our tongue. So taste actually occurs inside the body, our mouths, unless, as the students pointed out, we bring our tongue out to lick something. We also agreed that the eyes can see things like stars that can be as far as 95,891 trillion miles away. Though most agree that touch is the next closest and similar to taste, there are still some differing opinions went it comes to smelling and hearing and with one can sense further into the world.

Reminders
No candy or toys at school please.
Make sure your child has the outdoor gear they will need to take on the cold. And no worries, there are garment for borrow on those days they are without.